HAROLD LLOYD COMEDY AT THE GRAND THEATRE.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 18992, 11 February 1930, Page 7

HAROLD LLOYD COMEDY AT THE GRAND THEATRE.

With two leading stars in the world of comedy and drama, Harold Lloyd and Pda Negri, as the principal artists on its programme, the Grand Theatre this week presents a very attractive hill. The main feature, " Speedy,” stars Harold Lloyd and, as.anyone who knows the bespectacled comedian will expect, it is a comedy riot of the funniest. One begins laughing the moment one sees Harold and one continues laughing as he goes through his exciting adventures in V Speedy,” called so because of his facility both fc-r acquiring, and losing, jobs. In his latest job, that of ta.yidriver, he overhears a plot to put the grandfather of his girl, the owner of a horse-driven tram company, out of business. “ Speedy ” decides to take a hand and in the process gets into every imaginable sort of trouble. He goes to Coney Island, gets all the fun that is to be had there, has several fights with roughs, emerging always with honour, saves the business, collects a big cheque, and in the end wins the girl of his affection. There is not a single dull moment in the picture.

The second attraction, “ The woman on Trial,” stars Pola Negri, and is a film teeming with dramatic situations. The main scene—like those of many pictures recently—is set in a court-room, but instead of the usual American court-room it is French. Here Julie Morland (Pola Negri) is on trial for the murder of a man, Gaston Napier. The story is the story Julie tells the jury. It is a story fraught with emotion and the telling of : it calls into play all the great actress’s artistry. She tells of her love for a young art student, Pierre Bouton, and her marriage to a rich man that she might get money to help Pierre, a sick man; she tells of her child and her fight to keep him. It is a tragic story, with a dramatic crisis. However, all ends well. On Pola Negri the bulk of the work falls, and she carries it through with distinction. Arnold Kent and Einar Hanson are also responsible for some fine acting. There is the usual big list of comedy supports, and the fourth episode of the serial, “A Final Reckoning.”